


Old Wounds

by Mimiwritesfic



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gift Fic, Koholint Angst, Legend is sad hours, Linked Universe, The legend/Marin is pretty background, Warriors is a good big brother, bc i specialize in Legend is Sad Hours, because why not, the others are there but not integral to the plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:13:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27192242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mimiwritesfic/pseuds/Mimiwritesfic
Summary: My gift to Kayla on the discord for the Artist Appreciation Project! Enjoy some Legend hurt/comfort based on this lovely piece: https://bonespell.tumblr.com/post/627371335290617856/hehe-wars-leg-hug-go-brrr
Relationships: Legend (Linked Universe)/Marin (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 114





	Old Wounds

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bonespell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonespell/gifts).



War stories were hardly uncommon among the Links. The rare quiet nights—or as “quiet” as campsites in the wilder part of any Hyrule could get—would be filled with nothing else but food otherwise, and as good as Wild’s cooking was, it didn’t stop the silence. What else could they do to get to know each other? No Link was good at small talk (which was probably Sky’s fault initially, in Warriors’ opinion). 

“-and I buried my sword right through his  _ skull!” _

Small talk might have been a better choice, actually. 

“So  _ that’s  _ how I killed the King of Evil once and for all,” said Wind proudly, his grin only growing at the somewhat-squeamish looks on more than one face around him. The firelight flickering off of the cave walla gave Wind an oddly eerie look. “Me and Tetra, actually. She’d kill me if I left her out of this.”

“What happened next?” said Wild eagerly, scarfing down his own food belatedly—he seemed to have forgotten it was there during Wind’s animated storytelling. Wind began another yarn about getting sucked out of the ocean to safety (though he didn’t mention what caused that, oddly) and Warriors found himself distracted by a tap on the shoulder. 

“You didn’t seem surprised by any of that,” said Sky curiously, swirling the stew in his bowl around before tilting it back and swallowing the final dregs. “Has he told you before?”

Warriors hesitated. As much as he enjoyed mimicking Time in the “being cryptic” department, he didn’t like the idea of telling people about their futures. If he didn’t let on to  _ Wind,  _ though…

“I met a lot of people during the war,” said Warriors after a moment, shrugging nonchalantly. “From almost every era, yours included. What makes you think I’ve never heard Wind’s story?”

_ “My  _ era?”

“Yep. Your Moblins  _ suck.  _ And Ghirahim is… creepy.”

Sky shuddered. “I won’t argue with you there. You met people from Wind’s era…. What about the others? Time?”

“Yeah, several,” said Warriors, remembering a proud Goron, stuck-up Zora, creepy “fairy”, giggling imp, and a child who wielded the power of a god. 

As much as he’d like to know how Time got those markings onto his  _ regular  _ face, it wasn’t the time to ask. 

Sky hummed thoughtfully, fiddling with the end of his sleeve as he decided what to say next. The others were starting to pay attention, Wind’s tale having ended with a flourish of his blade. “What about… Legend?”

Warriors snickered. “Remember how I said I knew someone named Ravio? I’m  _ fairly  _ sure it’s the same guy we met a while back.”

“In a  _ war?”  _ Legend gave up his pretense of not listening and snapped towards Warriors, his eyes sharper than the sword he was tending.  _ “Ravio?  _ What did he do, throw rupees at the monsters?”

“He had a giant hammer, actually. And bombs. And an ice rod. And—actually, I’m  _ still _ not sure I ever saw his full arsenal,” said Warriors. “He was pretty anxious to get home, so he left as soon as he could and didn’t stick around as long as the others.”

Legend frowned. “He’s never mentioned that.”

Warriors winced.  _ So much for not giving away people’s futures.  _ “It probably hasn’t happened for him yet.”

“Who else?” said Wind eagerly, cutting off Legend’s response to Warriors—which may have been for the best. “Wild?”

“No one from there. I think Cia was running out of power to pull more people in by the time she’d run through most of them,” said Warriors. “She did take some clothes-”

“She  _ what?” _

“It’s not important. No  _ people _ from that era, though,” said Warriors, bypassing Wild’s incredulous face. With a jolt, he remembered the one person they’d never been able to place. “Actually, there might be one.”

Wild swallowed. “Who? What… what race?”

“Hylian,” said Warriors promptly, knowing Wild was probably thinking of his Champion friends. None of them were Hylian. “She had red hair and fought with a magic bell. Remind you of anyone?”

Around the cave, heads shook  _ no  _ and Warriors frowned. “Really? She talked about knowing someone named Link a few years back, so I figured she must be from one of your eras. Her name was-”

“Marin.”

Everyone stopped. Of all the people to speak with a hushed, fragile voice,  _ Legend  _ was the last person any of them would expect. Even  _ less  _ normal was the pale, shocked expression and hollow eyes where a frown or a glare normally sat. Legend’s bangs fell over his face a moment later and softened its usual sharp edges—or maybe he was just trying to hide. 

“Yeah,” said Warriors blandly, unsure how to face that reaction. “Got it in one. How-” 

“You said  _ was,”  _ said Legend sharply, jaggedly, directing the words at Warriors without looking up. “Where did she go after the war? Did she—did she survive it?”

“She…” Warriors swallowed, taken aback by Legend’s sudden reaction and the fact that everyone else had left  _ him  _ to respond.  _ Thanks, guys. I’m feeling the love.  _ “Yeah, she survived. Everyone who got pulled through to our side did—and Lana gave them all portals to return to their home era once it was over. Marin took that chance same as all the others.”

For an uncomfortable, tense moment that stuck in the air like old candy—cloying and choking—no one dared break the silence. Legend’s sudden uncharacteristic reaction had stolen the freedom to talk and made it too awkward to try. Even Wind, who would normally have been the first to crack a joke and carry things on, awkwardly shuffled his feet and sat next to Twilight a little too quickly to be natural.

“Right. Good,” said Legend eventually, his face still hidden from Warriors—but not Twilight, who had insisted on sitting next to the mouth of the cave. Legend gave nothing away, but Twilight’s quick glance told Warriors all he needed to know. 

_ We don’t need to make him relive whatever that name brings up any longer.  _

“Well, I just lost a bet with Lana,” said Warriors casually, pulling up a mental mask he’d never thought to need around the heroes again. The Captain Face, he liked to call it: a facade put up to raise morale in hard times. “I was  _ positive  _ we got someone from the era of the wilds. Since I ended up being right about that clown-looking lightning mage, I thought for  _ sure  _ I had this in the bag.”

“You don’t seem good at winning bets,” said Sky with the tiniest grin and a twinkle in his eye. If Warriors hadn’t been grasping at straws to get attention away from Legend, he would have been upset. “Wasn’t there that whole thing with Malon?”

Time’s ear twitched and Warriors scrambled to keep things going before his distraction became an attempted murder. “Listen, I have a seventy-percent success rate, alright? My bets aren’t—stop laughing!” 

The planned discussion of bets successfully made Wind start a tangent about his  _ own  _ prowess at games of chance (earning a side-eye from the ever-responsible Twilight). More importantly, the conversation had resumed—and Legend was in the clear. 

More or less.

As the night got darker and they settled down, Warriors  _ still  _ couldn’t stop thinking. He’d never interacted with Marin too much—as one of the higher-level allies they’d found, she tended to stick around less powerful allies to balance things out on campaigns. All he really remembered was her singing voice and the way her face had lit up when Proxi introduced him as Link.

The joy hadn’t been long-lasting, but she never treated Warriors like some kind of prize despite whatever past she had with the name Link, and he appreciated that. 

Legend took the first watch that night because of  _ course  _ he did. It was an unspoken rule by that point that volunteering to take watch meant, essentially, “I have to think and I don’t need input”. Most of their “rules” were unspoken.

So really, Warriors wasn’t  _ wrong  _ to wait until the others were out cold to get up and shimmy out of the cave to Legend’s spot. They’d never specified out loud not to do that.

“‘S not your turn yet, Wars.”

Legend didn’t look away from the pitch-black trees surrounding their campsite when Warriors edged out beside him. He didn’t move, either, so Warriors had to awkwardly prop himself up next to the edge of the rock shelf Legend was using as a seat. Nothing lit the sharp edges of Legend’s silhouette save for the dim stars and the dying campfire. 

“I know,” murmured Warriors, keeping a wary eye on the closest sleeper—Time—to judge if he was being too loud. When no one stirred, he continued: “You just seemed upset earlier.”

“I’m not.”

Yet, Legend didn’t look at him. The faint starlight tinged everything silver, including the pink bangs still hiding Legend’s face from view. 

“I don’t know who Marin is or was to you,” said Warriors softly. He trained his gaze on the trees just as Legend did, allowing as much privacy as possible. “But I’m sorry I brought her up. You don’t have to explain, I just… wanted to apologize.”

Legend swallowed and let the silence stretch long enough for Warriors to consider just going back to sleep. Then-

“I thought she was gone.”

Gone. Not “dead”, or “lost”, just  _ gone.  _ Warriors couldn’t help but wonder why Legend picked his words like that—as if Marin had simply vanished from existence. 

“Then—you described her, and I thought  _ well,  _ his adventure had all that timeline nonsense, maybe it’s just—before I met her. Or maybe there’s someone else whose trademarks are red hair and music, Hylia knows we’ve met at least one other person…”

Legend was rambling by that point, his strung-together mumbles almost incomprehensible, and  _ still  _ Warriors couldn’t see his face. 

“But I was right, and she  _ knew  _ about me, told you about me, and I’m… I’m the one who…” 

Legend slouched anyway, but now he nearly doubled over, curling into himself with his fingers clawing at his sleeves in a desperate attempt to hold himself together. Warriors stiffened, unsure of what to do-

“I thought she was dead,” Legend choked. “And I thought I was the one who got her killed. Now I know her home survived and she could even  _ leave…  _ but she’s out of my reach  _ again  _ and I—I can’t-” 

Warriors moved before the tears trailing down Legend’s cheek could hit the ground. He wasn’t even sure what the goal was until he had the shaking Legend tucked into the circle of his arms protectively, keeping him from collapsing altogether. Legend didn’t react for a moment—was that the wrong thing to do? Had Warriors accidentally made it worse?

But then trembling hands took hold of the back of his shirt and held on like a lifeline and Warriors knew he’d been right. 

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, letting Legend hide his face again. “It’ll be okay. I got you.”

“If you even  _ think  _ about telling the others-”

“I won’t.”

Legend kept drawing shuddery breaths into unsteady lungs, but they got slower and slower as time went on. “Th-thanks.”

Warriors gently ran a soothing hand over Legend’s back. “It’s the least I can do.”

If he couldn’t know more about the mystery of Marin, that was fine. All Warriors needed was to know that his brother was okay—so he held on tight for as long as Legend needed it. 


End file.
